Our Lady of Beijing: China awaiting Christ

A parishioner of the Assumption of the Mother of God Orthodox Church in the Russian Embassy in Beijing painted a new icon. The church has been active since it opened in 2009. Russia is increasingly looking at China as a social, political and partly religious model.

BEIJING: A parishioner of the Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God in the Chinese capital painted, or rather "wrote", a new icon, the Mother of God of Beijing.

According to Archpriest Fr Dionisy Pozdnyaev, parish priest of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Hong Kong, "the parishioner was free to pick the topic. In her icon we see the city of Beijing and the prophets, that is the idea that China is waiting for the coming of Christ, as announced by the prophets."

The various "Chinese" icons by Russian iconographers include Our Lady of Port-Arthur, that of Harbin and that of Hong Kong.

The Church of the Assumption in Beijing is located inside the Russian embassy compound in the Chinese capital, and is the only Russian church in Beijing.

The Russian Mission to China began in the 17th century and lasted until the 20th century, following the path of Russian expansionism into Eastern Siberia in the 18th century.

In 1685 Russian Cossacks operating along the Amur River conquered the Chinese village of Albazin.

About fifty Cossack prisoners remained in the hands of the Chinese, who later invited the first Russian priest, Father Maksim Leontev, to celebrate Orthodox services.

This first group of Russians was given a Buddhist temple, which was turned into the Church of St Nicholas in 1695.

Relations between Russians and Chinese intensified over time until the Russian Mission was closed following China’s takeover by the Communists after World War Two.

In 2009, the Church of the Assumption was inaugurated inside the Russian Embassy compound, and the Russians are increasingly looking to China as a social, political and partly religious model.--Asia News